Ted Bardacke – The umbrella group representing the leadership of East Timor is planning to hold a national congress in August to decide on "major strategic options" for the country, including whether to join the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) or the South Pacific Forum.

The national congress will be an attempt to reach a "national consensus on policy guidelines" for the next five to 10 years before the dissolution of the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT) in preparation for elections in two years' time, Xanana Gusmao, CNRT leader, said.

Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, who is accompanying Mr Gusmao on a six-nation tour of Asia, said the CNRT realised that such a consensus was needed "to provide continuity and stability".

Mr Ramos-Horta said: "One of our main concerns is security, where can it best be guaranteed, by linking ourselves with Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific or with Asean." Although there is no precedent for such a move, Mr Ramos-Horta said they may seek to join both organisations.

Mr Gusmao reiterated that he had no intention of running for president of East Timor, saying it was a promise he made to a group of young boys who were the rump of his guerrilla army in the mid 1980s. "I was fighting for values and ideals, not to become president," said Mr Gusmao.

Mr Ramos-Horta said he and Mr Gusmao would be willing to appear in an Indonesian court as "witnesses for the prosecution" in any trial of military officers for their alleged responsibility for the destruction and killing in East Timor following the territory's vote for independence.